Category: Media

11/22/2017

The NEW York Times Book Review

"STILL STUCK" by Shinsuke Yoshitake (Abrams Books for Young Readers 2017) has a great review in The New York Times!

Author Rumaan Alam in his review "These Kids Never, Never, Never Give Up", writes about the protagonist: "It's a relatable predicament, and his response is instructive: He learns to cope." For Alam, Yoshitake's ultimate message remains ambiguous: "keep a stiff upper lip, look on the bright side, or just hope mom will arrive, deus ex machina, to help you." But, he says, "Yoshitake's illustrations are so charming they obviate the need for an obvious lesson - my kids laughed throughout, though never harder than at the poor hero's bare bottom as mom bathes him. Each child is unique, but all children think butts are hilarious." So true.

To read Alam's full review of this and other great books about never giving up, visit the New York Times here.

10/17/2017

BOING BOING calls The Original Area Mazes "Addictive"

Area mazes, or "menseki meiro" as they're called in Japan, are logic puzzles with simple rules but sometimes complex solutions. Originally developed in Japan for students to develop logical and geometric thinking skills, this collection by Japanese puzzle master Naoki Inaba and first published in English by The Experiment Publishing brings area mazes to everyone - especially lovers of sudoku and other brain games. The first ones are easy, but the area mazes get progressively more difficult.

In the first review of the English edition, boing boing's Mark Frauenfelder calls them "fun" and "addictive." You can read the whole review here, and try some of the puzzles for yourself!

10/17/2017

Area Mazes featured in FiveThirtyEight's "The Riddler"

The Original Area Mazes by Japanese puzzle master Naoki Inaba, Ryoichi Murakami and introduced by Alex Bellos is published in English by The Experiment Publishing on October 3, 2017.

To solve each puzzle, remember these simple rules:

Area = Length x Width
Use spatial reasoning to find helpful relationships (diagrams are NOT drawn to scale!)

Whole numbers are all you need. All of the problems can be solved without using fractions.

FiveThirtyEight's "The Riddler" column by Oliver Roeder featured two puzzles from The Original Area Mazes on September 22, 2017. Here they are below. See if you can solve them!
(A video in which Roeder explains how to solve both puzzles was released the next week!)

Riddler "Express"

Riddler "Classic"

Did you solve them? Here's a link to the The Riddler Oliver Roeder's video explaining the solution:

10/6/2017

Children's Book Council (CBC) features What What What? in October's "Hot off the Press"

!! @CBCBook’s October Hot Off the Press features WHAT WHAT WHAT by Arata Tendo, illus. Ryoji Arai https://t.co/uuyPFGBJpp #kidlit #mustread pic.twitter.com/1sNljGaMO6
— Enchanted Lion Books (@EnchantedLion) October 6, 2017

The Children's Book Council (CBC) has featured "What What What?" by Arata Tendo, illustrated by Ryoji Arai, and translated from the Japanese by David Boyd, in their October edition of "Hot off the Press":

"He'll talk to anyone―even total strangers―to satisfy his curiosity. But not everyone likes his questions. And because some people get annoyed with him, he asks his grandparents, "Why does everyone always get mad at me?" Still, when Pan discovers that what he mistook for Halloween makeup on a schoolmate's face won't come off, he knows he’s got to get to the bottom of things. His search leads him from his teacher to his classmate’s doorstep, and before long Pan has the entire community asking the same questions he is: “What’s up? What’s happened? What’s going on?” Pan shows us all that a little bit of curiosity can go a long way, and that some things deserve more than a second glance."

Originally published in Japan by Shueisha, Boyd's English translation is published by Enchanted Lion Books, the Brooklyn-based independent and family-owned publisher of outstanding illustrated books for children.

What What What? is the debut picture book from Tendo, who is best known as a bestselling Japanese novelist and author of the Naoki Prize-winning novel "The Mourner," which was adapted as a film in 2015. It is also Tendo's first collaboration with Arai, the Astrid Lindgren Award-winning illustrator.

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